Best Aerators For Lawns And Yards

Aerating your lawn is important as it creates holes in the soil to reduce compaction so water, air, and nutrients can reach grass roots. A plug aerator helps in removing a plug or core of grass and soil from the lawn. This process is beneficial for the grass to grow, resulting in a lush green lawn. Spike aerators make shallow holes in your yard or lawn with a spiked machine and provide uniform coverage. If you have freshly planted seeds, using a spike aerator decreases the risk of rain washing the seeds downhill. Let’s discuss some of the best lawn aerators in detail.

UPP Manual Rolling Lawn Aerator

This aerator is constructed using solid steel, making it stable and durable. This lawn aerator can bear a lot and can be used for many seasons.

The nails on this tool are quite long, penetrating 3.5 cm deep. This lawn aerator is also 42 cm wide, making it more effective to aerate medium-sized gardens.

Each nail is narrowed at the end, making it quite sharp. However, you can still use this manual lawn aerator on a soft, damp lawn, it is not heavy enough to penetrate very dry ground.

This aerator is not expensive, but it costs a little more than many other rolling lawn aerators. This is probably because it is quite a large device. Additionally, it is constructed entirely of steel, making it very rust-resistant.

Greenkey Rolling Lawn Aerator

A rolling aerator is a great choice because they enable you to aerate your lawn efficiently, eliminating the need to buy an electric walk-behind aerator. Specifically, this rolling aerator is reasonably priced, and is quite wide, at 30 cm. It is not the best choice for large lawns, but is efficient for aerating small gardens.

Although it doesn’t have hollow tines, the solid tines are quite deep, at 4.5 cm. This rolling aerator is also easy to push and won’t get stuck, while your lawn is a little damp before aerating.

Assembly is required, but is easy and quick and it comes with a full fixings kit before you start using this lawn aerator. Also, the included instructions to assemble are easy to understand.

The main problem with this lawn aerator is its weight. If you need to aerate a very compacted lawn, it might not be sufficiently heavy to penetrate the ground completely. You may require to put some weights around the handle that will aid it to push down into the grass if the dirt is very compacted.

Faithfull Faicouaero Countryman Aerator

The Faithfull Countryman Aerator features a carbon steel tubular frame and handle with 5 hollow tines, created to make holes in the soil in which lawn grasses grow. It does not remove weeds but prepares the soil for better growth. The size of this aerator is ‎13 x 93 x 5 cm.

Einhell GC-SA 1231/1 Electric Scarifier/Aerator

This Aerator is a blend of electric rake and hollow tine tool made up of plastic that enables fast and easy vital maintenance of small to medium size lawns and grass areas of up to 300 m². Its dimensions are 93 x 58 x 105 cm and weighs about 9 kg.

The scarifying roller has eight high-grade stainless steel double blades that rigorously remove moss and weeds deep down to the roots. All debris is stored in the large catch bag for easy and clean disposal.

Just switch to the aerator roller consisting of 42 stainless steel claws to efficiently aerate the soil while protecting your lawn. With this aerator hours of back-breaking forking is turned to minutes of effortless work.

It provides variable working depth as it can be adjusted to 3 different levels to adapt to the particular needs of your soil and growth. A handy transport position protects both the blades and the surface on which it stands.

The Handy Plug Aerator 101 cm

The Handy Plug Aerator 101 cm is made up of alloy steel utilizing the 25 cm pneumatic wheels. The heavy duty weight tray can withstand even the toughest of soil conditions. It has 133 × 99 × 85 cm dimensions and weighs 35 kg. 

This highly efficient hollow tine aerator is suitable for medium to large gardens. Just hitch the aerator to your garden ride-on mower or tractor to remove plugs of soil to bring water, oxygen, and nutrients down to the grass roots for a lush, green and healthy lawn.

Fast and effective aerating is possible with 24 sharp metal corers that cut firmly into the soil and a wide 101 cm width provides more coverage quickly and effectively. 

You can adjust the depth for shorter or longer soil plugs up to a maximum of 7 cm (3″) long by simply moving the one-handed lift lever to change the working depth. 

Strongway Drum Plug Aerator

This Strongway Drum Plug Aerator is a lawn roller that assists you to create a pretty landscape or level field. The 18 inch diameter, 36 inch working width drum, offering a total filled weight of 490 lbs is covered with 54 separate 6 inch plugs that penetrate into the ground, aerating while rolling for turf that is level and uniform. A great choice for aerating hard, compacted soil or clay to provide nutrients and water to the roots of grass or plants.

Fill the drum with up to 40 gallons of water to obtain the desired weight and create a heavy, flattening drum roller that has spikes to aerate and flatten at the same time, keeping your lawn healthy and looking good. Plugs are removable for sharpening or replacement and have a pin-style hitch for easy pulling. Durable metal frame has a powder-coated finish to help resist rust. 

The Handy Hollow Tine Aerator

The Handy Hollow Tine Aerator has a tough all-steel construction for solid strength, the aerator removes soil plugs to bring water, nutrients and oxygen down to the roots to refresh the grass for a lush, green and healthy lawn. 

Its five hollow tines remove soil-cores down to a depth of 50mm, allowing air, water, and nutrients to better access the root system. In addition, it reduces moss proliferation and allows any fertilizer you apply to work more productively.

It is strong and durable and equipped with a collection tray that means your lawn won’t be scattered with soil-plugs when you have finished aerating. Additionally, it consists of a tread-plate that makes it easy to dig-in the tines; and a fold-away handlebar for closely-packed storage. This model has a 20 cm working-width and weighs just 3kg. The dimensions are 14 × 28.5 × 97.5 cm.

What To Know About Aerators?

Aerators benefit in several ways. Listed below are some of the benefits they provide.

• Alleviate soil compaction: Soil compaction prevents water, air, and fertilizer from reaching your lawn’s root system, causing patches, dead spots, and/or thinning. 
• Helps in thatch removal: Core aeration helps to remove that build-up by introducing thatch-decomposing microorganisms from the soil to the thatch layer on the top.
• Increases nutrient availability: Aerators enable water, air and nutrients to penetrate the soil. This improves the productivity of your fertilization and ongoing watering to promote a healthy turf.
• Advantage of pH modification: Applying sulfur or lime after aerating your lawn encourages the change of pH deeper into the soil profile.
• Builds a thicker lawn: Aerators stimulate the root development and growth, but cool season grasses require overseeding to help fill in bare spots and thicken up the turf. 
• Reduced water runoff and puddling: If you notice your yard has puddling or runoff problems after a rain, aerators can help you fix it.
• Prepares grass for winter dormancy and a green spring: Before your cool-season grass becomes dormant, make sure it’s in the best shape by pairing fall aeration with fall fertilization. 

When To Use A Plug Aerator?

Many people wonder about what is aeration. Aeration is the process of creating holes in the soil to allow water, air, and nutrients to penetrate the grass roots. As plug aerators are very effective at decompacting soil in the yard, use them just once a season, or even once after every few seasons unless your soil type is actually compacted. 

In clay soil, use a plug aerator in place of a spike aerator. If your grass is full and thick such as Bermuda grass, you may require to aerate a little more frequently because this type of grass can quickly form a layer of thick thatch, especially if you don’t dethatch regularly.

Do Lawn Service Providers Use Plug Aerators?

Yes, lawn service providers include the use of plug aerators in their lawn services to remove small plugs of thatch, turf and soil from your lawn. Plug aerators dig much deeper into the ground and create larger holes as compared to a spike aerator. 

Eden provides professional lawn aeration services to keep your lawn lush, green and healthy. Book a visit with Eden’s professionals today so they can check out your lawn or garden and determine what method works best for it. Our professionals are available at your service throughout the year, so ensure your lawn is at its best condition with Eden.